On 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Saeima, joined the women speakers of 16 other parliaments in a declaration urging to give back the voices of Afghan women.
“In many places around the world, girls and women have become hostages to various cultures, religions, and wars. They have been barred from access to proper healthcare, hygiene products, and not least to education. Such regression to a time when women’s voices are once again deliberately silenced by refusing their access to education is unacceptable. Education should become an opportunity, not an objective!” emphasised Speaker Mieriņa.
In the declaration, the speakers refer to Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. “And yet, on their own soil, Afghan women are deprived of their fundamental rights and robbed of their humanity. In recent months, the latest decree on the ‘prevention of vice and the promotion of virtue’ has placed the final nail in the coffin of women’s freedoms. From now on, they are forbidden to leave their homes alone, to have their voices heard in public, or to recite a poem. What is their crime? Being a woman. What is their mistake? Existing,” state the authors of the joint declaration, underlining that girls and women no longer have the right to sing; they already no longer had the freedom of learning or teaching.
Afghanistan is now the sole country in the world to ban education for girls over the age of 12 and for women. According to UNESCO data, 80 % of Afghan women of school age, i.e., 2.5 million, are deprived of their right to education. “Young Afghan girls cannot be deprived of a universal and fundamental right! So let’s not delude ourselves about the archaic and theocratic nature of the Taliban regime, which denies the humanity and dignity of women. This is a crime, a systematic persecution based on gender, that outrages all consciences, especially ours as female politicians and women Presidents of Assemblies,” express the authors of the declaration.
In the joint declaration, he women speakers urge the Taliban regime to repeal the decree and all other discriminatory laws immediately. “We will never abandon the women of Afghanistan. We will continue to be the voice of those who are silenced,” underline the speakers, noting that, more than ever, parliamentary diplomacy must be diplomacy for women. The authors of the joint declaration are committed to remaining vigilant and unyielding in order to ensure that their governments continue to fight for the fundamental rights of Afghan women, to ensure that humanitarian aid continues and is increased, because it remains essential.
“We are also committed to defending women's rights wherever they are trampled on and crushed: this is the case in Afghanistan of course, but also in Iran, and wherever fanaticism and obscurantism threaten them, including even in our own countries, where anti-rights movements are gaining ground and where the elimination of all forms of violence against women can never be taken for granted. This fight for equality, dignity and freedom is the fight of all women. It is a fight for our common humanity. We will never stop waging it,” state the women speakers.
25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and various events are taking place around the world to draw attention to this issue. According to UN data, violence against women and girls remains the single most prevalent human rights violation globally. At this year’s Women Speakers’ Summit, which took place on 7 March in Paris, Yaël Braun-Pivet, President of the National Assembly of France, proposed the idea for a joint declaration drawing particular attention to the violation of women’s and girls’ rights in Afghanistan. The signatories to the declaration include speakers of the parliaments of Albania, Angola, Cambodia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Quebec, São Tomé and Príncipe, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, and Uruguay as well as the President of the European Parliament.
Saeima Press Service